Athletic directors made impact on Hauser after 45+ years of leadership

Given the short attention span and a tendency to always be on the lookout for “greener pastures” of so many in today’s world, one would be hard pressed to find many people in the same category as longtime Hauser athletic directors Robert “Bob” Miller and Dave Irvine.

Together, the two served Hope/Hauser High Schools for a total of 75 and a half years.

Those years included a continuous stretch of just under 45 years when Hauser had no other athletic directors outside of the Miller/Irvine duo. Miller served in that capacity for 24 years before Irvine took over for the following 20 and a half.

Miller – a 1956 Jasper High School grad – came to Hauser (still then in the old Hope building) in the 1963-64 school year after spending his first three years in education at Winchester and Spencer. He was a 1960 Purdue (B.S.) and 1963 Indiana University (M.S.) grad. Once landing at Flat Rock-Hawcreek, Miller’s final 34 years in education were spent serving the Hope community.

Those 34 years provided a lot of variety for Miller – as he taught biology/science, driver’s education, and physical education, as well as coached basketball, baseball, cross country and golf. Miller served as the athletic director at Hauser for 24 years before retiring at the onset of the 1997-98 school year.

“When I first came to Hope, all 12 grades were in the same building,” Miller said. “The high school was upstairs and the elementary was down.”

Miller – who also served several years as the school’s assistant principal -- placed emphasis on a few things as he continued to recollect how things changed over the course of his career.

“I can remember times I might ask a student for their parents’ phone number when they would own up to their behavior, apologize and then ask me not to call,” Miller reflected. “Twenty years later, many of them just said to go ahead and call. By the time I retired, it didn’t seem as many kids suffered from consequences at home.”

One of Miller’s favorite coaching memories came during the winter of 1969 when he was at the helm of the JV basketball team. Miller’s squad played Moores Hill at home that year when he delivered an unusual directive at halftime. The only points that Moores Hill had scored the first half came from a few free throws. Miller expected no less than that same defensive effort the second half. Consequently, he told his team that the first player to allow his man to make a bucket had to drop and do five push-ups. A couple of minutes into the second half, a Moores Hill player was able to get around his man (Joe Lortz) and make a lay-up. As directed, Lortz immediately dropped to the floor and delivered five push-ups as directed by his coach. The second opponent to score that half resulted in Wayne Downey down on the floor doing his five as mandated by Miller. After that, the young coach secured a timeout and that was the end of the immediate push-ups on the court.

Times have, indeed, changed.

It was also easy for Miller – who played an instrumental role in raising funds to construct four tennis courts at Hauser - to quickly point out ways his role of AD evolved significantly over the years.

“When I first started as AD, we had no computers and I had no athletic secretary – all correspondence was done in the mail and through phone calls,” Miller stated. “I also taught three classes at the time... We had a phone in the office and I would have to be gotten out of class to respond to calls. It was all so very different. Looking back, I sometimes wonder how I was able to do it all.”

Miller and Joyce, his wife of 53 years, are still residents of Hope. The former Hauser AD was quick to say the sense of community was what kept him a fixture at the school for so long.

“I suppose there were times when I thought I would have liked to go to a bigger corporation, but the small town and feel of community was what kept me here,” Miller reflected. “As I got to know the people, built more relationships and became familiar with more and more families – it would have been hard to leave. The support from so many families in Hope made it very enjoyable.”

It was easy to tell Miller has no regrets choosing to spend his career in education.

“There have been so many mornings when I’ve been out mowing grass and working in the yard when former students and players would stop by and we’d share memories,” a grinning Miller said. “That still happens.”

Dave Irvine spent a total of 41 ½ years at Hauser. The December 2016 retiree spent his entire career in education at Hauser – the first 21 as a teacher and the last 20 ½ as the school’s athletic director after taking over the torch from Miller.

Irvine – a 1970 Columbus High School grad – went to Ball State and did his student teaching at Hauser in 1974. He also coached the JV baseball team that spring. That experience was all Irvine needed to know Hauser was a place he wanted to be for the long haul.

“That longevity in one place can be attributable to all kinds of good things,” stated an appreciative Irvine. “It would be hard to point out everything. There was a high degree of camaraderie that existed there for a long time.”

Irvine taught/coached some combination of industrial arts, driver's education, health, physical education, baseball, basketball, track and volleyball for 21 years prior to becoming the Athletic Director for the final half of his career.

Irvine and Miller would both agree that the life of an athletic director is not easy. However, given the right scenario, it can be a very rewarding one.

“I was fortunate enough to have good relationships with our coaches,” said a grateful Irvine. “We had coaches at Hauser during my time as AD that made my life a whole lot easier by being the kind of coaches they were. The vast majority of them took care of what needed to be done in a professional manner.”

Irvine (as well as Miller) was quick to point out the major role the community played in regards to his longevity at Hauser.

“We had good kids and good parents,” Irvine stated quickly. “There were many community members I could rely on when we wanted to improve in some area. People typically came out of the woodwork to help when we had building projects – or whatever else – going on.”

Being an athletic director at a small school certainly doesn’t bring with it some of the “extras” that an AD might get at a bigger school.

“At Hauser, we didn’t have either an assistant AD or a full-time athletic secretary,” Irvine commented. The retired AD certainly did not mean for that to be an excuse nor a complaint. However, Irvine probably would not have minded sharing a little more of the load from time-to-time.

“Everything is time consuming if you do things the right way,” quipped Irvine. “It just goes with the territory that, all too often, all you hear about are the screw ups. It was frustrating when what went wrong was on the other school involved. People didn’t always wait to get the entire story about things…they only knew the surface of it. There is so much more to the job that people just don’t think about.”

Hauser’s athletic program experienced a lot of success over different sports during Irvine’s time at the helm. When asked what his favorite memories were during his years as AD at Hauser, Irvine was quick to point out several.

“I’d have to say right up at the top are the state championships in basketball (2006) and softball (2015),” Irvine said. “Of course, the state runner-up in baseball (2005) is also right up there. None of those would have ever happened without the right people in the right places. We were very fortunate.”

In retirement, Irvine continues to remain involved in Hauser athletics. He announces home softball games and periodically does so for volleyball and boys’ basketball.

Hauser’s athletic program most assuredly still feels the positive impact of the strong foundation that Miller and Irvine worked so hard to build. With their level of dedication to the school and Hope community for so many years, there’s little doubt that their legacy will continue to survive.